It's not easy to stand by and watch a relationship in trouble. First there's the constant bickering, the growing sense of distance, the discontented grumbling. Next, there are the wandering eyes and intentions, and the seeking out of greener pastures. For many longtime Linux users, the past few months have resembled the first phase of breakdown as the Systemd Inferno has blazed higher and higher. [More...]

The authors position their content around case studies and actual workplace situations in companies including Google, Etsy, Twitter, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon and others. The authors' familiarity with these industry giants lets them lay out the situations they describe with an authoritative voice. Their practical experiences are readily applicable to small and mid-sized enterprise operations. [More...]

Well Thanksgiving week is upon us here in the land of stars and stripes, and in anticipation of all the social events soon to besiege us, more than a few Linux bloggers have been practicing keeping their favorite barstools warm down at the blogosphere's Punchy Penguin Saloon. How chilly would those stools get if we were all flitting here and there from this party to that? It would be truly unkind. [More...]

A new version of the NotCompatible malware, which first appeared in 2012, is bigger, badder and pretty much indestructible, Lookout Security reported. And it can compromise corporate networks, thanks to the BYOD trend. The malware, called "NotCompatible C," focuses on Android devices. The NotCompatible Trojan is used to spread spam campaigns, among other nefarious activities. [More...]

The Makulu Cinnamon Debian Edition 1.1 marks a new path for Makulu. This latest release has numerous new features that could make it a top competitor against the Linux Mint Cinnamon edition. Makulu Cinnamon Debian Edition, or MCDE, has fewer standard apps than the previous Makulu Xfce and KDE versions offered. Dropping the kitchen sink philosophy has made it a lot less unwieldy. [More...]

In the world of Indiegogo, Jolla's tablet is a blockbuster -- but in the context of tablet sales overall, it's not even a blip on the radar. Jolla could do just fine as a niche product, though. "We are still mostly in a Model T market right now, and it appears the market wants to aggressively expand into one that has far more unique and better-focused offerings," observed tech analyst Rob Enderle. [More...]

FOSS fans perhaps may be excused if they've felt a bit confused over the past few days. Dizziness, headaches and vertigo also have been common. What strange new ailment is this, you might ask? Well, it's no ailment -- but that doesn't mean it's any simpler to remedy. The cause is none other than the news that Microsoft is open sourcing .Net and also expanding it to run on Linux and Mac OS. [More...]

CAINE, a professional-grade digital forensic Linux distro, uses an old-school desktop environment hardened with top-notch specialty tools. CAINE provides tight security and built-in digital investigation tools. It is less inviting for non-forensic specialists to use as an everyday Linux desktop, but it could serve the purpose for users who are willing to handle several interface inconveniences. [More...]

The amount of open source software used by the U.S. government might be one of the biggest secrets in Washington. Not even purveyors of FOSS, as in free and open source software, know the extent of federal agency adoption of nonproprietary software. Some in the Beltway Loop contend that open source is very prevalent. Others suggest that it's avoided because its code is exposed for anyone to see. [More...]

Roughly 10 years to the day after the release of Firefox 1.0, Mozilla on Monday announced an updated version of its open source browser complete with a new Forget button aimed at protecting users' privacy. Forget asks you only one question, said Firefox Vice President Johnathan Nightingale. "How much do you want to forget?" Once you supply a time frame, "it takes care of the rest." [More...]

It's no secret that the Linux community has been in a state of upheaval these last few months, thanks to a little piece of technology known as "Systemd." It not only has been divisive, but also has been distracting us from more important matters. Need an example? Here you go: When was the last time you participated in a rousing revival of the good old "Year of Linux on the Desktop" debate? [More...]

Black Lab Linux is a general purpose free distribution for home users and SMBs. This particular segment of the Linux OS tries to bridge free OS and preconfigured commercial hardware/software with a flexible set of options. Black Lab Linux is an outgrowth of OS4 OpenLinux, a distro released in 2008 by the same developers. There is a blurred line between the free and enterprise versions. [More...]

"So simple a child could do it" -- I have heard that expression abused often in advertising. Yet it aptly applies to the Kano computer kit. Kano is a computer and coding kit that is suitable for all ages. Well, to be truthful, Kano's step-by-step instructions in the included booklets and its simplified Linux-based operating system target kids aged 6 to 14. [More...]

Google's Android stole share from all of its major mobile OS rivals over the past year to achieve a whopping smartphone market dominance of roughly 84 percent in the third quarter of 2014, according to a new Strategy Analytics report. Apple's iOS, which weighed in with about 12 percent, lost more than a point of share to Android since the same quarter a year ago. [More...]

Halloween has come and gone here in the Northern reaches of the Linux blogosphere, but for those of us paying attention, few things could be more frightful than the bloodshed now occurring in Debian's civil war. The streets of the blogosphere are filled with smoke; conversations are getting drowned out by the din of gunfire; and glasses are perpetually rattling down at the Punchy Penguin Saloon. [More...]